Schodorf announces run for secretary of state

Wednesday

Oct 30, 2013 at 12:01 AM

By Roxana Hegeman Associated Press

WICHITA - Former Republican state Sen. Jean Schodorf formally announced Wednesday that she'll run for Kansas secretary of state next year as a Democrat, hoping to challenge Republican incumbent Kris Kobach.

At her kickoff event, Schodorf vowed to fix what she calls a voter registration "mess." At the start of this week, nearly 17,200 registrations were on hold because prospective voters haven't presented proof of U.S. citizenship.

"I don't like to say this about people very often, but Kris Kobach is bad at his job - and we are paying the price." Schodorf told about 60 cheering supporters who gathered in Wichita for the campaign announcement.

Schodorf - who as a legislator voted for both the proof-of-citizenship bill and one requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls - said Kobach didn't tell lawmakers at the time that thousands of people who had lived their whole lives in Kansas would be denied the right to vote.

"In my book, that is voter suppression," she said.

She said the 17,200 voters on the list showed Kobach's incompetence in running the secretary of state's office. People whose registrations are on hold aren't legally eligible to vote, and if they go to the polls, their ballots will be set aside and not counted.

"It is unacceptable and I say, 'Shame on you, Kris Kobach,' for not taking the necessary steps to fix the problem," Schodorf said.

Kobach took issue with Schodorf's characterization of those 17,200 voters on the list, saying nobody is being denied the right to vote and calling them simply "incomplete registrations." He said the Legislature voted that way to make it more convenient for people to complete their voter registrations - either quickly or by taking their time to get the necessary documentation.

"That is not a problem. That is the way the Legislature designed the statute that she voted for," Kobach told The Associated Press in a phone interview from Topeka.

Kansans "very strongly want" to protect the integrity of our voter rolls, he said, and support the requirement for proof of citizenship when people register. New voters must present a birth certificate, passport or other papers documenting their U.S. citizenship.

Schodorf told AP after the campaign event that she would work with the Legislature to try to repeal the proof-of-citizenship law, but that many people feel the voter ID law is working so she would take it "first things first" if elected.

She also told supporters it was time Kansas had a full-time secretary of state, taking a swipe at Kobach for what she terms his "moonlighting" for outside interests to promote his personal agenda while ignoring Kansas. Kobach has built a national profile by advocating policies that crack down on illegal immigration and for helping to write tough laws in Arizona and Alabama.

But Kobach said that when he first ran for the office in 2010 he made it clear he would continue to defend the rights of states to discourage illegal immigration in his spare time. He insisted he works full time at his public office, and works on the immigration issues on weekends, evenings and vacation days.

"What I choose to do in my spare time is up to me," Kobach said.

After serving 12 years in the state Senate as a moderate Republican, Schodorf lost a bid for re-election after conservative Republicans targeted her for defeat in the 2012 primary. She then switched her party affiliation to Democrat.